


Mermaid McGenji Companion Fic

by PugSempai



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, MerMay, MerMay 2020, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24031621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PugSempai/pseuds/PugSempai
Summary: Just a little companion story I thought of while drawing my first piece for MerMay. McCree reminisces about his life among the kelp stalks then runs into an old friend.
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Genji Shimada
Kudos: 20





	Mermaid McGenji Companion Fic

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me what kind of fish McCree is he's just colorful.

Jesse liked the kelp forests. They provided a sense of security that the open waters didn’t provide to a mer that was down one arm. Sure he’d been fed up big and strong, being raised by two predators. But it kept the instincts tickling the back of his skull quiet when he had cover. Still, there was danger to be had in the kelp forests. There were rumors that the further down they went, more likely it was to encounter a dragon. Truth be told Jesse didn’t see that as a bad thing. Ever since he was small he’d been immensely curious about these dragons. His childhood memories peppered by sneaking out of his kelp tethers at night. Swimming deep as he could go to try and spot one of these so called beasts. Each time he’d just barely get to the ocean floor before an arm would shoot out and grab him. His pa frantically crawling back up the stalk of kelp while his dad would patrol around, teeth bared. Should anything have had thoughts about eating the small mer. It always ended the same. Ten arms holding him tight as he protested that he just wanted to explore. 

The one trip of note was a time he’d gotten about halfway down, a shock of something shiny had distracted him. Giving him pause as he looked around the stalks around him. Chasing the flashes until he’d stopped. Remembering what his pa said about hunting and letting things come to him. Though he had no intention of harming whatever it was. He’d still taken heed and done his best to disguise himself in a stalk of kelp. Jesse had done a poor job. But it seemed to do the trick as the flashing slowly emerged from its own hiding space. Jesse held his breath. It was another young mer, green with flecks of gold in their tail. As he grew older he’d learn that they were an eel mer. But at the age he was, they were a dragon. They tentatively propel themselves through the kelp and Jesse did his best to slowly creep out of his hiding spot. He swam up behind them.  
“Hi.”  
The small eel mer gasps and turns, looking at him with wide eyes before diving down towards the ocean floor.  
“Wait!”  
Jesse gave chase, catching up to the eel mer and almost grabbing them when his pa’s arm catches him. The eel mer ducks into a rock crevice peering out and up at the puffed up octopus.  
The eel looks scared and Jesse can’t blame them. His pa was mighty intimidating when he was puffed up and flashing all his angry colors. He wants to tell them they shouldn't be scared but before he could his pa propels them upward with a forceful jet of water. The two young ones not breaking eye contact until Jesse’s father’s shadow passes over the crevice and the little eel dives deeper in. Not wanting to get caught by the shark. 

He gets a huge lecture once they get back to their ‘home’. But Jesse had never forgotten that interaction with the eel mer. He’d caught glimpses of them over the years. Sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by either another young blue eel or older turquoise eel. Both strikingly similar in appearance, if their identical glares in Jesse’s direction were anything to go by. Occasionally he saw a dark navy blue eel. Bigger still than the turquoise eel but somehow less intimidating. He saw the other three less and the green eel more as he got older. Catching him by surprise at one point when he saw the green eel wrapped in layers and layers of kelp. Being tended to by Angela, an angel fish that had moved into the forest. The two’s eyes met and Jesse didn’t know if there was just blood in the eel's eyes or if it was something they could do, but they almost glowed red and he looked angry. 

After that he’d seen the eel more and more. And even learned that they were a he and his name was Genji. He refused to talk much about the other three eels. And as the kelp sloughed off it revealed more and more scars. Tugging at Jesse’s heart. He’d formed a bond with Genji, the two becoming fast friends. Despite Genji’s somewhat abrasive nature He’d even introduced the eel to his fathers. His pa is more tentative than his dad, but Jesse would chalk that up to his pa being a bit lower on the food chain. As the two spent time together they grew closer still, and Jesse had developed feelings for the eel mer. It plucked at the back of his mind, the idea of Genji being his mate, so he plucked up the courage to tell Genji how he felt. The very next day Genji had disappeared without a trace, leaving McCree crushed and heartbroken, feeling a deep sense of loneliness that stuck with him until the present day, where he lounged in the kelp forest reminiscing. 

He’s broken out of the thought by movement in the stalks. Jesse turns onto his belly and tenses a little. Whatever it is is big and he slips out of his woven resting spot. Starting to slowly swim in the direction of his father’s territory. Something that big wasn’t a task for something with two arms. Let alone one. So off he goes until he sees the flashing of something shiny as the movement follows him. While Jesse doesn’t relax, he does tense up with an entirely new emotion. Joy. His pattern becomes more wandering than direct. Still keeping an eye on the movement. It gets closer and closer until Genji glides directly under him, wrapping his strong tail around Jesse’s and his arms around the torso of the colorful mer. Their noses are nearly touching and his face heats up, a goofy smile splitting his face. 

“Hello Jesse.” 

“Hey, darlin. Was uh, worried I’d scared you off for good.”

Genji laughs. “You could never.” 

“Well… why’d you leave then? Left me mighty lonely.” McCree says, wiggling his good arm up to rest his hand on Genji’s chest. 

Genji frowns. “I’m sorry Jesse. I should have said something. I was… very impulsive back then. I knew I wasn’t in the right place to consider taking a mate. So I just left. It was a bad decision to leave without telling you. I’m sorry Jesse.” 

Jesse could never be mad at the eel mer. Well, not anymore. He had been in the beginning but it mellowed out as time passed until he just missed the other mer. “I forgive you, sweetness.” 

“And yes.” 

“Pardon?” 

“Yes. I would like to be your mate.” 

Jesse’s face splits into the biggest grin and he wraps his good arm around Genji’s neck and buries his face in Genji’s neck. 

“Well shoot darlin’. You’ve just about made me the happiest tropical fish in the whole damn kelp forest.” 

Genji laughs and detangles their tails, still holding onto Jesse as he propels them around the kelp forest. The two laughing and catching up as Genji continues making his rounds with the rest of the residents of the kelp forest.


End file.
